Pete Hegseth and the Art of Incompetence | Opinion

Editor’s Note: This article is a lightly edited transcript of an excerpt from Wednesday’s episode of Newsweek Radio, which you can listen to here.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has emphatically denied allegations that he texted classified war plans—specifically plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen—to a group chat that accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic.

It’s funny watching Washington types clutch their pearls over something that sounds exactly like the kind of incompetence we’ve come to expect from them. Sure, the hypocrisy is staggering—wasn’t it just yesterday that these same people were foaming at the mouth over Hillary Clinton’s emails? But hypocrisy is the default setting in D.C. Democrat, Republican, it doesn’t matter. The whole lot of them operate like a bumbling aristocracy that thinks they’re the best and brightest when, in reality, your average joe-six-pack probably has more common sense than this entire parade of self-important buffoons.

Hegseth isn’t some great military mind. He’s a glorified pundit who spent years licking Trump’s boots on Fox News until he was rewarded with a fancy title and a desk at the Pentagon. The idea that people like him, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, or Stephen Miller are calling the shots is laughable. These aren’t masterminds; they’re middle-management puppets signing off on whatever war plans the real power brokers—the generals, the CIA, the defense contractors—slide across their desks.

And what does any of this have to do with the price of groceries? I’m sure some Ivy League egghead could try to make the connection, but I don’t care. We’ve been bombing rebel groups in the Middle East for decades. The only thing shocking about this story is that the Washington elites are stupid enough to coordinate their latest military adventure on a messaging app like a bunch of teenagers planning a keg party.

But let’s not pretend any of this matters. These people aren’t the architects of anything. They’re figureheads, signing whatever is put in front of them and then heading off to the same D.C. cocktail parties, laughing at the rubes who still believe there’s a meaningful difference between Republicans and Democrats. There isn’t. It’s the same circus, the same clowns, all piling out of the same car.

And while we’re at it, let’s talk about who actually benefits from these so-called “leaks” and “scandals.” Because it sure as hell isn’t the average American. The media gets to pretend they’re exposing some great controversy, D.C. insiders get to huff and puff about decorum, and politicians on both sides get another excuse to wag their fingers at each other—meanwhile, we’re still stuck watching grocery prices climb, wages stagnate, and our leaders fumble from one foreign entanglement to the next without a single coherent plan.

You think Pete Hegseth leaking some war strategy changes anything? Please. The U.S. war machine runs on autopilot. Presidents change, parties swap power, but the same defense contractors get paid, the same conflicts drag on, and the same smug bureaucrats keep their jobs no matter how badly they screw up. That’s why it’s laughable when these people act like they’re the guardians of national security when in reality, they couldn’t even guard their own text messages from a guy who writes for The Atlantic.

If there’s one thing Washington excels at, it’s failing upward. Pete Hegseth screws up? He’ll land another cushy gig at Fox News. A senator gets caught in a scandal? He’ll end up on a corporate board. Hell, even Jeffrey Goldberg will probably get a book deal out of this. Meanwhile, the rest of us get stuck paying the bill for their endless wars and idiotic policies.

So no, I don’t care about this scandal. I didn’t care about Hillary’s emails, and I don’t care about some second-rate TV host fumbling around with a Signal chat. The only thing that surprises me is that anyone still believes this government is anything more than a collection of grifters pretending to be in charge.

Jesse Edwards is Director of Newsweek Radio & Podcasting, and the Host of Newsweek Radio.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.